


The Debt We All Pay

by Jestana



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocolypse No [6]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Character Death, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 18:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29247807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: Brasidas supports Alexios at one of the lowest points in his life.
Relationships: Alexios (Assassin's Creed)/Brasidas (d. 422 BCE), Myrrine/Nikolaos (Assassin's Creed), implied Kassandra/Stentor (Assassin's Creed)
Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocolypse No [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138319
Kudos: 9
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	The Debt We All Pay

**Author's Note:**

> Written for February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocolypse No. The prompt was 'terminal'.

"Brasidas, you're here." Alexios greeted him when he arrived. "Thank the gods Ikaros found you in time."

He nodded, stepping into the small house when Alexios moved back. "I came as soon as I got your message. How is Myrrine?"

"I-- She--" Alexios shook his head as he closed the door.

Tears stinging his eyes, Brasidas gathered his lover into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry. There is nothing the priests can do?"

"Nothing." Kassandra answered from across the room while Alexios burrowed further into Brasidas' arms. When he looked at her, she stood in the doorway, scowling darkly. "Not even his friend, Hippokrates, can do anything."

Brasidas nodded, rubbing Alexios' back gently. "Sometimes, nothing _can_ be done."

"I just got _mater_ back," Alexios muttered, finally straightening up.

Kassandra snorted and stormed back through the door. Taking advantage of their momentary privacy, Brasidas kissed him softly. "Let's go in and sit with Myrrine and the others."

"Yes, she was happy when I told her I sent for you." Alexios nodded, scrubbing his cheeks.

When they stepped into the small room, they found Myrrine on the bed, her head and shoulders pillowed on Nikolaos' lap. It broke Brasidas' heart to see the strong, vibrant woman so thin and weak from her lingering illness. Kassandra and Stentor stood in opposite corners of the room, their eyes on the bed. Still scowling, Kassandra fidgeted, clenching and unclenching her hands into fists, as if she longed for something or someone to punch. In contrast, Stentor stood stiff and still, his hands clasped behind his back like a proper Spartan soldier. His expression, though, betrayed awkward hesitancy. As a soldier and a general, he was no stranger to violent and sudden death, had even dealt it himself. A lingering and wasting illness like this, though, would be strange to him. On a stool beside the bed sat Hippokrates, gently holding Myrrine’s thin wrist in the circle of his fingers. She lifted her head at their entrance, a faint smile lighting her face. "Brasidas, you're here."

"I'm here." He awkwardly knelt beside the bed, ignoring a twinge from the old leg wound. "How could I not come?"

She tried to lift her free hand from the bed, but failed. He took it in both of his. "Take care of my lamb for me."

" ** _Mater_** ," Alexios groaned, kneeling beside Brasidas.

Managing a weak chuckle, he nodded. "I will, Myrrine. You have my word."

"Alexios." Myrrine turned her attention to her son.

Brasidas let him take her hand. "Don't go, _mater_."

"Everyone must pay the Ferryman eventually, my lamb," she reminded him, pausing to cough. "Even me."

Alexios shook his head, refusing to accept the truth. "First Phoibe, almost Brasidas, and now you. Hasn't he taken enough?"

"Death is part of life, Alexios." Myrrine's hand twitched in Alexios' grasp and he shifted closer. "You know that."

He bowed his head, pressing his lips to her hand. "I love you, _mater_."

"I love you, too, my lamb." Her smile grew stronger. "Don't let my death stop you from being kind. It's what brought this family back together."

Nodding, Alexios straightened up. "Yes, _mater_."

"Kassandra, Stentor." Myrrine shifted to look at her two younger children.

Brasidas hid his annoyance that Alexios had to help him to his feet so they could move back and give the others space. They kept their arms around each other as Kassandra took Myrrine's hand first, her voice quiet and brusque. " _Mater_."

"Kindness is not a weakness, my daughter," Myrrine told her. "There is strength in it."

A jerky nod. "Yes, _mater_."

"Stentor, my son." Myrrine waited while he gingerly took her hand from Kassandra. "Remember that even the tallest, strongest tree still bends in the wind. If it didn't, it would break."

Stentor nodded once. "I'll try... _mater_."

"I love you both," she whispered.

Kassandra leaned forward to kiss Myrrine's forehead, and then stood up, stalking back to her corner, as if embarrassed by the display of emotion. Stentor kissed Myrrine's hand before getting up and returning to his corner. Nikolaos smoothed her hair back from her face, his voice hoarse when he murmured, "Myrrine..."

"I forgave you long ago," she told him, shifting to look up at her husband. "Now you need to forgive yourself."

Nikolaos shook his head, scrubbing at his face with his free hand. Only then did Brasidas realize that he'd been quietly crying the entire time, tear tracks trailing down his cheeks and into his beard, carving grooves through it. "I don't know how."

"Remind yourself that our children survived," Myrrine suggested, vaguely gesturing towards Alexios and Kassandra.

After glancing at the two, Nikolaos shook his head again. " _Your_ children, Myrrine."

" _Our_ children," she countered firmly.

Another glance and he nodded slightly. " _Our_ children. I'll try."

"That's all I can ask." Myrrine's voice faded at the end, her eyes fluttering closed.

Nikolaos leaned forward as Hippokrates finally stirred, hitching his stool closer. "Myrrine?"

" _Mater_?" Alexios, Kassandra, and Stentor all moved closer.

Brasidas held his breath as Nikolaos and Hippokrates bent over Myrrine. After what felt like forever, Hippokrates straightened up and shook his head sadly. Crumpling to his knees beside the bed, Alexios began to sob. Nikolaos rested a hand on his elder son's head and reached out to grip Hippokrates' arm. "Thank you for easing her pain."

"I wish I could have done more," Hippokrates replied sadly as Brasidas rested his hands on Alexios' shoulders. "Both now and long ago."

Stentor, standing stiff and still once again despite the tears trickling down his cheeks, told him, "You did what you could."

"Small comfort," Kassandra snapped, just before whirling around to stride out of the room and, moments later, the house entirely.

Brasidas wasn't too focused on Alexios to miss the way that Stentor looked at Nikolaos questioningly. Nor did he miss Nikolaos' slight nod, which prompted his younger son to follow her. Hippokrates left the room a short moment later. "Alexios, mourn for your _mater_ , but don't forget to live, too."

"Yes, _pater_." Alexios hiccupped, sitting up, but still holding Myrrine's limp hand in his.

Nikolaos caught Brasidas' eye. "Don't forget your promise to look after Alexios."

"I'll take care of him." Brasidas promised, bowing his head to acknowledge how seriously he took it.

Alexios reached up and covered Brasidas' hand with his as silence fell, broken only by the occasional sob or sniffle as they mourned the passing of a beloved wife and _mater_.

**Author's Note:**

> So I kept Brasidas alive only to kill off Myrrine. I didn't directly reference the prompt, but my thinking behind the fic was 'terminal illness'. I tried to go fluffy, but my stupid brain.


End file.
